Metro Vancouver approves operating budget with reduced fee increases | Daily Hive

Metro Vancouver Regional District approves operating budget with reduced fee increases

Headquarters office of Metro Vancouver Regional District. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

After much debate and heightened scrutiny for months, Metro Vancouver Regional District has finalized its 2026 operating budget and five-year financial outlook.

The regional district’s board of directors approved the budget late last week, which sets the average annual household fees at $897 in 2026 to cover the region’s bulk services of providing drinking water, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, and regional parks.

This can be broken down as an average of $81 for regional planning, regional parks, air quality management, E-911, and Invest Vancouver, $208 for drinking water, $74 for solid waste management, and $534 for wastewater treatment.

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“We understand the pressure residents are feeling from rising costs. We’ve taken action to protect affordability while continuing to deliver the high-quality services residents rely on every day,” said Mike Hurley, chair of the regional district’s board of directors and the mayor of Burnaby.

A services and cost efficiencies review conducted earlier this year identified more than $360 million in operational savings over the next five years. The savings were achieved through reduced debt servicing costs, scaled-back capital infrastructure spending, adjusted project timelines, and streamlined work plans.

This includes the regional district’s measure earlier in October to scale back and defer some major components of the Iona Wastewater Treatment Plant project, which will now cost about $6 billion instead of the previous estimate approaching $10 billion.

The total capital budget of new and improved infrastructure and other construction will reach $11.59 billion over the five-year financial outlook, including $1.77 billion for 2026.

Separately, the 2026 operating budget will reach $1.57 billion, increasing to $1.732 billion in 2027, $1.904 billion in 2028, $2.089 billion in 2029, and $2.246 billion in 2030.

Over the same period, following the more modest increase in 2026, the regional district’s average annual fees on households will increase to $923 in 2027, $969 in 2028, $1,018 in 2029, and $1,070 in 2030.

This translates into increases of 2.5 per cent in 2026, 3.0 per cent in 2027, and 5.0 per cent per year in 2028, 2029, and 2030. Previously, a 5.0 per cent increase was proposed for 2026.

Actual household costs will vary by jurisdiction, as municipal governments collect the regional district’s fees through property taxes and utility bills.

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